The weaknesses
The Kings have a lot of good players. What they’re missing — as made painfully obvious by three straight playoff defeats at the hands of the Oilers — are truly great players. And losing their
best player obviously makes that fact hurt even more.
Franchise cornerstone pieces give a team championship upside. They’re the type of players that raise a team’s ceiling, and the Kings, at the moment anyway, are woefully short.
During the team’s previous championship window, those players included Kopitar and Doughty. In 2024, those players can’t still be Kopitar and Doughty, even if the latter was healthy. Neither has the offensive ability anymore to be leaders at their position, and that puts the Kings behind the best of the West.
It’s likely that Byfield will supplant Kopitar at some point, but the transition to it being his team hasn’t been quick enough to bridge the gap between eras. Clarke will get a massive opportunity this year to be the guy, but that’s a lot of pressure to put on a young player who has yet to prove he’s a full-time NHLer, let alone a difference-maker.
It’s helpful that Kopitar is still as good as he is, but part of the reason that the Kings have been good, but not great, is that no one has stepped up to take the mantle yet. The Kings are still his team, and that’s a problem for a 37-year-old. The clock is ticking on his utility and when it does, the Kings could take a dramatic step back. We’re going to see the risk of that play out on the defensive side over the first few months of the season without Doughty.
Kopitar still rocking out at his age is impressive, but on a contending team, he’s much better suited for a second-line shutdown role. He’s not as involved in the offensive zone or bringing the puck into it, and his ability to create chances ranks really low. He can still win his minutes, but his scoring ability has been steadily second-line caliber in four of the last five seasons. . . .
On top of all that, the other issue is offense. The Kings’ forwards have the fourth-best Defensive Rating in the league, but also the 21st-ranked Offensive Rating at minus-8. That’s made all the more problematic by a lack of offensive utility from the blue line — especially now with Doughty out of the picture. Neither Anderson nor Gavrikov grade out well for their roles, and the presence of both Edmundson and
Kyle Burroughs now makes things look painfully dire. That has potential to be one of the league’s worst pairs, a huge black hole.